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The South Australian government is demanding an apology for a media conference she hosted outside a public housing unit.
Earlier in the week, opposition housing spokesperson Michelle Lensink spoke to press outside a Parafield Gardens home that she claimed was vacant in order to draw attention to what she characterised as a failure by the government to properly maintain its public housing portfolio and letting homes go untenanted.
However, it was later revealed that the home is in fact tenanted, as is a neighbouring property that Ms Lensink claimed was also vacant.
Calling it a “stunt”, a release from the South Australian government chastised Ms Lensink for the “embarrassing backfire” and requested that she apologise to the tenant.
Minister for Human Services, Nat Cook, said Ms Lensink “should really know better”, given she was formerly the minister for housing.
SA Housing Authority has reported that government supported homes in the area, in which Ms Lensink held her media conference, have a 98.5 per cent occupancy rate.
The government also stated that it has reduced the number of vacant public housing properties to 1,774, down from 2,000 in late 2021 when the Liberal government last held power. It acknowledged, however, that “these numbers fluctuate as people move in and out, homes are upgraded and properties are redeveloped”.
Ms Cook called on the Opposition Leader, David Speirs, to speak to Ms Lensink about her behaviour, and wrote to Ms Lensink asking her to “respect the dignity and privacy of public housing tenants following similar stunts”.
She also affirmed the government’s commitment to tackling the state’s housing challenges.
“There is a national, international, housing affordability and availability crisis, and the Malinauskas government is doing all we can to build more new homes and bring vacant properties back online,” she said.
“Stunts like this just further marginalise already vulnerable people and do nothing to address the issue,” she added.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juliet Helmke
Based in Sydney, Juliet Helmke has a broad range of reporting and editorial experience across the areas of business, technology, entertainment and the arts. She was formerly Senior Editor at The New York Observer.
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